Matching Items (3)
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- All Subjects: postfeminism
- Creators: Russomanno, Joseph
- Creators: Przybylo, Ela
Description
The term “female sportscaster” elicits a broad range of feelings among the sports media consumer base. Many of the women who fall into the category of “female sportscaster” appear to be greatly admired while many others evoke considerable scorn, making the electronic sports media industry a seemingly dangerous and often vitriolic environment for women. The gendered mistreatment of women sportscasters is not unfamiliar to sports media scholars. Indeed, phenomena such as sex biases, double standards, and harassment have been documented, primarily through positivistic or quantitative research. What has not been investigated, however, is how these phenomena persist and evolve despite the extant research.
This dissertation employs Michel Foucault’s power/knowledge paradigm to take a discursive analytic approach to understand how the “female sportscaster” subjectivity, or imagined idea, is constructed through statements, images, and practices. That is, this dissertation investigates the way society “talks about” the “female sportscaster” and how those discussions affect the experiences of women sportscasters. Using one-on-one interviews with 10 women sportscasters, focus groups with sports media consumers, netnography, and textual analysis under the umbrella of a feminist methodological approach, this dissertation finds that the American female subjectivity is constructed through postfeminist and neoliberal discourses. These discourses “empower” women sportscasters to be responsible for their own success but, in doing so, normalize the obstacles women in sportscasting endure.
As a result of this normalization, the electronic sports media industry is seemingly justified in taking little to no meaningful action toward improving conditions for women sportscasters. Specific manifestations of these discourses are traced across phenomena such as double standards, bias in hiring and development, harassment, and the expectation of affective labor. Suggestions are made for improving conditions for women sportscasters.
This dissertation employs Michel Foucault’s power/knowledge paradigm to take a discursive analytic approach to understand how the “female sportscaster” subjectivity, or imagined idea, is constructed through statements, images, and practices. That is, this dissertation investigates the way society “talks about” the “female sportscaster” and how those discussions affect the experiences of women sportscasters. Using one-on-one interviews with 10 women sportscasters, focus groups with sports media consumers, netnography, and textual analysis under the umbrella of a feminist methodological approach, this dissertation finds that the American female subjectivity is constructed through postfeminist and neoliberal discourses. These discourses “empower” women sportscasters to be responsible for their own success but, in doing so, normalize the obstacles women in sportscasting endure.
As a result of this normalization, the electronic sports media industry is seemingly justified in taking little to no meaningful action toward improving conditions for women sportscasters. Specific manifestations of these discourses are traced across phenomena such as double standards, bias in hiring and development, harassment, and the expectation of affective labor. Suggestions are made for improving conditions for women sportscasters.
ContributorsHarrison, Guy (Author) / Russomanno, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Switzer, Heather (Thesis advisor) / Reed, Sada (Committee member) / Anderson, Douglas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The 2015 Supreme Court case, Reed v. Town of Gilbert, is unusual. While it was unanimously decided in a 9-0 opinion, the majority opinion created a lot of divisiveness within the Court. This thesis examines how a court that unanimously decided on the outcome of the case contains concurring opinions that so strongly disagree with the specifics put forth in the Opinion of the Court, and what implications that might have on future content discrimination laws. Such implications include whether the Court will take a more functional or literal approach to strict scrutiny examination and content regulation.
ContributorsLucas, Kristen Alexi (Author) / Russomanno, Joseph (Thesis director) / Gonsher, Geoffrey (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
In what has been coined the postfeminist era, successes of the second wave feminist movement have been distorted by sociopolitical and economic structures to proclaim that sexism and inequality no longer exist within liberal American society, and thus feminism as a movement is no longer necessary. While theoretical and quantitative work has examined women’s relationship with feminist identity, limited research exists on women’s subjective, qualitative accounts of feminist identity. Furthermore, there is a dearth of research on women’s subjective identification across the spectrum of feminist identity, particularly from non-college and non-white populations. Using thematic analysis this study critically analyzed 20 qualitative interviews from a community sample of women in a large Southwest city (Age range: 18-52; Mean age: 35.35, SD: 12.0). Narratives revealed four themes surrounding women’s identification with feminism and conceptions of sexuality: 1) Feminist self-labeling associated with a collective identity 2) Empowerment as a personal endeavor 3) Female empowerment and relationships with men and 4) Investments in femininity and sexual empowerment. This data supports the notion that feminist ideals of equality and agency have been distorted by postfeminist and neoliberal ideology to prevent women from identifying as feminists. Additionally, data postulate that this distortion has permeated ideologies of feminist women, thereby discouraging collective action for change.
ContributorsCarlyle, Madison S (Author) / Fahs, Breanne (Thesis advisor) / Swank, Eric (Committee member) / Przybylo, Ela (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017